12.11.2009

Rondo Gives Jerry West No Respect

Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo adjusts his headband after teammate forward Kevin Garnett pulled it down over his eyes in the fourth quarter of their NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Hornets in Boston, Massachusetts March 28, 2008.

So I'm catching up on parts of games I've missed over the last couple of weeks, and on two different occasions, the most recent being last night, the camera closes in on Rajon Rondo, and I notice that his headband is upside down. Upside down? You respond. Lex, how can a green-colored headband have a right-side up or a wrong-side down? Because the headband has the NBA logo on it, a logo that depicts former Laker player, coach, and GM Jerry West. Rondo wears the headband so West is standing on his head.

Back when the Lakers and Celtics met for the first time during the KG Era in November of 2007, I sent Messieurs Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett a little missive, providing them with a brief history lesson on the subject of purple versus green. My point was that we needed to send the purple, and Purple Nation, a message. They did just that, dominating the Zen Mistress and the Fakers on the parquet. A month later, the Celtics repeated the feat at Staples.

A lot has happened since those two regular-season games were played. The green humiliated the purple in the 2007 NBA Finals, and the Lakers bloodied our noses the next year by sweeping the season series on their way to championship #15. Paul Pierce began this season by saying he had four games circled on his calendar, two of them were against the Lakers.

This rivalry is at a pivotal moment in its storied history. We lead by two championships, but Kobe Bryant is young enough to win three more before he retires. The last thing Wycliffe Grousbeck, Danny Ainge, or Doc Rivers want is to be at the helm in the unlikely event the Lakers were to overtake us. The players get it, too. I've chronicled the dislike between these two teams on several occasions.

It says here Rondo intentionally wears his headband in this fashion to show the purple no respect. I'll spare the profanity for this post. But let me just say this blog salutes Rajon's "fashion" statement.

4 comments:

Lex said...

Note that I'm going to postpone further posts in the Larry v. Magic series until we reach the end of the 1983-84 season. There's no point in posting the 1984 Finals two separate times now and then next spring. Hopefully no one was dying for the next installment.

Lex said...

Ok. I guess he's been doing it for a while. I still say at this point he understands that wearing the logo upside down shows a certain disrespect for JW. That's how I'm interpreting it anywhoo.

Lex said...

Every time the C's see the headband now, I bet more than one of them thinks--F Jerry W and the Ls.

Lex said...

For one thing, he wears his headband upside down.

"The first year I was in the league, I wore it upside down and had a pretty good game, and I didn't know it was upside down until I looked in the mirror after the game."

For another, he keeps a tube of Carmex lip balm tucked into his sock every time he plays.

"You know, my lips get dried during the game," he said.

You serious?

"Yeah, serious," Rondo said. "Ever since I started doing that, I've been playing well. A few guys know it. A few opponents will joke about it, say, 'Lemme get some Carmex.' So, a few people know. I guess everybody is going to know now."